The Xchange of Nei Minamiya
by Ereine
Summary: Nei Minamiya isn't your average highschool student, he is considered a genius, multitalent, and somehow bordering in madness when he had his bad day. He yearn for a change in the world. One day, his wish came true in the most unpredictable way


Chapter 1: Prank the day

Today is the first day of my high school life but I'll always presume it will be roughly the same like past 2728 school days. I always stated that today will be the same as yesterday. Most people will find this statement questionable, plausible, or just ridiculous but I do believe there are more people who agreed with me because that is the truth. If I need to exaggerate, it's on the same level as the truth of the universe.

Why? because nearly every day began and ends with the same routine of waking up, going to school or work, coping with your daily life, return to home, then rest on your bed, and then repeat the cycle again only with a twist every 3 months or so and the usual disturbance like the infamous 'breaking up breakdown' syndrome for couples or the 'pre-exam panic event' for the students. Don't you ever think that "normal" life is just a replication of events, or a preset of chores that must be maintained in order to be accepted as a 'normal' person in the society?

One will ask "why the people didn't change it?" because it will break the balance of the world. Major change always disrupts the old balance, bringing unrest and chaos to ones who cling to the "current" order. After that, comes the reformation where people began to accept the change evident by the subsiding chaos. Last step will be resettlement of the new world with new balance and ideals that either survived the change or an entirely new one. That is what most people didn't wished for because for them the world today is stable albeit hanging on delicate scales, to the point when one can put is as 'stale' or simply 'boring'. For some people this is ideal. But for the others who yearn for change, it's the otherwise. I'm also one who seeks changes. Not for any ulterior motives like increase the GDP, reduce poverty, or something as abstract as world peace - it is not my concern. I'm seeking it for my own sake as I clearly dissatisfied with the way things go on currently. If I need to summarize it, I want to lead a more exciting life.

I always dreamt about something that can change the world as we know. To be precise, I wish I could participate or contribute something in that event. Be it a 10 Richter scale earthquake, a closed world, or anything exciting.

When is the time Zombie pandemic will occur? A world where people turned into mindless flesh eating corpse, it doesn't matter whether they're infected with a new breed of virus or mutated strain of rabies. What is important that it will change the world that we lived in now. Imagine the adventure, the horror, the tension, and every post pandemic problems that we may encounter. The world that place me in the most unfavorable position against the ravenous reanimated corpse that forced me to utilize my bravery to withstand the chaos, intelligence for better survival, dexterity to scale any urban obstacle, and strength for bringing down any foe. Even imagining it is enough to get my blood rushing.

Mecha war also piqued my interest. Imagine if you are inside the battlefield and discovered that the army has kept a ground-breaking '18-meter-high-metal-piece-of-awesomeness'- right in front of you, waiting for a pilot that can unleash its true potential, and that pilot is you. Even without the tedious training that the grunts undertake, you can defeat the enemy, save your family, rescue a damsel in distress, and be a hero. All in one fortunate event and the chance of occurrence is higher than my first idea. Besides, how hard is it to shape various metals and computers to form an '18-meter high-metal-piece-of-awesomeness' when our technology has advanced this far?

Sadly, all the thoughts about that kind of event will be suppressed by our own grasp of reality. In the real world, the occurrence of the creation of a virus – by nature or synthetic process - that able to reanimate corpses or alter human behavior to that extent is near or equal to zero. While the mecha idea holds more chance to be realized into reality, there is no country or organization that currently willing to invest in that kind of warfare for now and in foreseeable future. In the end, it is our 'common sense' that prevents us from realizing our dreams.

I wonder how about the people who didn't had any, or have a distorted common sense? Did they see the world in different way than us? Did they able to realize something that will break the boundaries of our common sense? If I may guess, only a pure genius or a madman who fits that question perfectly. Why did I mention a mad man? Because the border between pure genius and insanity is very thin. A twist is enough to switch to the other side vice versa. Sadly enough, there aren't many people who fall into that category so the chance of the twist will be less likely too...

For ones who currently listening my thought, be it normal humans or espers or an even alien who just has found the Voyager II space probe (Which contain exact coordinates of our blue planet and language samples) bear with me as I nearly finished. If you don't want to, don't read my mind or change your mind-reading channel to some evil scientist alright?

For some reason, I felt an impending danger coming from behind me. I just hoped that I'm wrong this time. Well, there is still time to think about…

Well…I guess this is the end of it…as about 2 seconds from now I'll receive a loud yell from behind me…talk about sixth sense…

"GET BACK TO THE REAL WORLD!"

*WHACK!*

I forgot that the sharp pain in my back that forced me to return to the 'real world' is also imminent *sigh* ...damn it hurts! She must have too much energy build up inside her! Haven't you done 'it' today!

When I turned, a girl appeared into my vision. In a flash, I see a young girl who had a short hair, sharp eyebrows, green eyes, and a pretty face to boot. Apparently she's agitated as shown by her pouted lips and twitching eyebrows. I scanned her looks on my database...oh, found one.

Turns out I receive a slap on my back from a female classmate, Tsubomi Kanagawa.

She is my classmate from the 3rd year of elementary school. At a glance, she is your usual role model student with above average rating of all aspects be it her body features, her intelligence, and even her manners is above average (Although for some reason she always rude to me). From the outside, she is a flawless young girl but if you see the inside lays an extremely unstable mood state. She could be switching from laughing, crying, and screaming with rage within a minute or even less. Fortunately for the others (and unfortunately for me) she is able to hide her insane mood swing from everyone except me. Why? Maybe I'll tell you other time; this simply isn't the time for it. Contrary to popular belief, I do not agree if people regard her as my girlfriend. Just because she always sticks her neck into my personal matter and physically close to me doesn't mean that we're close, in fact I currently hold enmity to her. Why? It's rhetorical to answer it, talk to my aching back who is protesting to my brain right now.

Somehow, even though her wave length and mine differ greatly like the size of Jupiter and Pluto we always found ourselves in a deadlock situation that put us together in the society. Be it our seating inside the classroom, our lunch seat selection, even our way to school! What kind of cliché plot devices are that? Although the desire to change it so tremendous, the practical disadvantage is just equally tremendous (I refuse to take a detour to school) so in the end, I will assume that we will be forced to spend our moment together like this until I graduated and find a job. God, if I may ask thee please show her the light of guidance so she could control her power and restrain her extreme mood swing? I knew I ask much but currently I only can ask you Lord. Amen.

"For your information, it hurts."

"Hmph that is what you get for ignoring a girl who greeted you!"

Sorry but I will not recognize you as a female homo sapiens if you still act like this, you better off to be a female gorilla replacement in the city zoo.

"What nonsense, I have my rights to ignore someone especially when I was thinking something..."

"Ha? What are you thinking now? Don't tell me it's something strange again" Tsubomi said with a sharp tone.

"Nothing of your concern Kanagawa-san."

I replied nonchalantly while wearing my poker face as I strolled forward toward the school gate.

"What's with that distant greeting...?"

Tsubomi now faced me with discontent. For some reasons she dislikes me if I called by her last name. Girls are more complex and cryptic to understand than a 4096 bit encryption with additional 1024 key.

"I do not know what are you talking about, Kanagawa-san"

I said as I smiled inside, my first stage of the plan to annoy her this morning is indeed a success. Now to deliver the next blow...

She quickly turns her head to the front and started muttering something. Tsubomi, you might want to lower your volume a bit. If you pay a little attention, it's easily audible from here.

"…and I thought you will be a tad nicer to me after we graduated from the prefectural junior high"

She turned her head front and now puffed her cheeks. The only thing she will receive was my deep silence as it is a waste of breath trying to argue with this girl. After doing it for a while, she turned and stares at me with an expression that a lost kitten in a cardboard had. Gah! That's my weak point! But I mustn't show my fondness towards her, otherwise she might actually consider utilizing it for her advantage. Although I would never imagine someone like her doing it, the possibility must not be overlooked. Some great people have a philosophy suitable for this situation, Better safe than sorry.

"…"

She still gazed me with that look, hmm…if I observe it correctly she had a beautiful eyes, that subtle line of her iris….wait, this isn't the time for that.

We stood around 3 minutes without saying anything, seems like she's dejected for sure...somehow it doesn't feel right...Great, now you managed to make me felt guilty by making that kind of face...it can't be helped, I have my own set of principle and one of it is "a man should take responsibility for his action" and I intended to follow it thoroughly.

"…Sorry…Tsuu-chan"

"Eh? That was...Nei-kun…?"

Tsubomi eyes widened as she face me with glittering eyes.

"Who knows? It might just been a wind?"

I put my poker face again to hide my embarrassment. It's embarrassing to address her with "Tsuu-chan" as I'm not a kid anymore and if I address her with that, people will misunderstand our relationship. But…it's probably alright sometimes…just sometimes…

"Liar! I'm sure you called me by my first name a moment ago!"

She pointed her finger on me while posing like a detective that usually swore in the name of his grandfather.

"Hmm...I'm not sure...maybe I said it...maybe not"

I said it while smiling intently to her.

She giggled and said,

"Thank you…Nei-kun"

It's all fine and flowery here but a moment later I'll bet 'it' will happen...

"But that didn't change the fact that you think strange things! Confess it out!"

Here it is the legendary super-fast-development-mood-swing (I just made up the name now). I really wished she could stop swaying her personality. If I may choose, god I would like her to maintain the cute one just now and ditch this annoying one please.

Tsubomi doesn't show any sign of change, seems like my previous prayer is indeed effortless.

"Kanagawa-san, it is almost the time for the new term opening ceremony. If you don't mind, I'll be leaving now"

"Ah! Wait!"

Before she could manage to reply, I dashed towards the auditorium. I knew that she will definitely give chase, but I do have some confidence in my running capability. While it doesn't exceptionally fast, my physical endurance is better than most people, in the matter of minutes the gap between us is surely widened. With this in mind, it should be impossible to...

"Guh...great..."

A powerful grip similar to the ones that have been used to bring the other sumo fighter down by a legendary yokozuna is now exercised on me. I forget than in short-term sprint and strength...she's better than me as her initial acceleration time is shorter than me...alright, the chase wasn't as long as I hoped. Only about 3 minutes, that was a blunder on my part...

"Now spill it out! I bet you were thinking about that new adult video that Tokiwa-san mentioned! You pervert!"

Can't you refrain from saying such obscure thoughts out loud in the morning?

"Kanagawa-sa..."

"That is enough. Kanagawa-san, Minamiya-kun, I knew you both want to enter that lovey-dovey mode by doing some lover's quarrel first thing in the morning but please do it alone at some secluded place please! Now that I think about it...don't!"

Said by an unfamiliar female student with long silky black hair, brown eyes and a different uniform than us.

"Wait, me and that Mr. Weirdo-Whiz-who-only-care-about-his-stupid-gadgets? Couples? That's ridiculous"

"Wait, me and that extreme-over-violent-too-much-energy-freak girl? That's an outrage!"

I do not usually did this but I seconded that notion. That one came from the bottom of my heart.

"By the way, who are you to think up such stupid idea?"

Tsubomi now locked her gaze to the seemingly mysterious stranger. Is it just me or she's seemingly flustered as she occasionally took a peek at me then turns again.

"That's cruel! I don't believe you've forgotten about me, the one who sit beside you in the seventh grade."

Wait, I still remembered the class arrangement back then. The one beside her is Nishima Rika or "Sumo-chan" (She received that nickname because her overweight posture that matched the sumo wrestlers at that time). She is surprisingly smart though, and became a friend for our same hobby that is to imagine things we hoped to be realized, such a nice and honest girl compared to somebody I knew. If I recall, she later went to a private school by her parent's request...that explained her different attire. Using the only possible deduction, I confront the stranger.

"Wait...don't tell me you're...?"

But before I could finish my sentence, someone blurt out something inappropriate...

"Su-sumo-chan? Eh not…Rika-chan"

"Please refrain from saying my embarrassing nickname. That time is over already. It's been a while, Minamiya-san and Tsubomi-chan."

The girl bowed a little and smiled.

Now in state near shocked, Tsubomi widened her eye in disbelief and dropped her jaw. It is reasonable because when you meet a friend that usually weights around 160kg suddenly lose a good three quarter of it; you're bound not to recognize her, leading to temporary disbelief rather than awe - seeing that much loss in weight and mass, I couldn't help to also freeze in awe. And to add, she is unexpectedly beautiful now...

"Rika-chan, you're transferred here too?"

Tsubomi said, still in disbelief...

"Yes, my dad reposted here so I'm able to enroll here. I figure you both will attend here too."

Rika said while making a victory sign. Umm...what that supposed to mean?

"Yeah, well...I didn't really choose this school..."

Tsubomi said dejectedly.

"Umm...so you wanted to enroll into another school but failed?"

"Yes, she aimed to enroll into the Sakuradayama high school. People usually said even thinking of that resembles a poor man who tried trying to grasp the moon."

"Well...Tsubomi-chan indeed above the average, but trying to go there is extremely hard. Excluding the geniuses, the average IQ of the students there is 115, nearly 45 percent of the gifted child from the whole country is studying there and there must be many other students who failed the entrance exam, so cheer up, you're not alone!"

Rika is trying to comfort Tsubomi, who is still downtrodden.

"But...even Nei-kun easily ranked first on the test...and he only did it for 15 minutes...even I couldn't finish it in 2 hours...ah...it is not fair…"

Sorry Tsubomi but you shouldn't compare your intelligence against me, because it always ended as we both predicted.

"Amazing as usual Minamiya-kun, I see you haven't ceased to amaze me...wait...if you passed the exam, why are you enroll here? Isn't Sakuradayama suites you better?"

Rika smiled at me while at the same time looked at me with a concerned look.

I concur that that school has the chance to satiate my thirst for knowledge, but...there is something that bound me to this place, a promise to keep.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Flashback *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Ten years ago I befriend a girl with who lived one block away from my home it was my first and only friend ever for the half of my life. That time I didn't have any friend because everyone treats me like I'm a "different" being than them. I always receive special classes, doing something that didn't matched my age, and saying things that are too hard for my peers to understand. But she is different, she treats me the same as everybody else, she didn't look at me as if I'm an alien, and she is able to cope with everything I said. It didn't take long for us to be close friends with each other. I visited her home often to invite her to play at the park near the house that had a giant Cherry Blossom tree. That tree became our meeting spot should we lost each other while playing together. As days passed to weeks and turned into months then years, our feelings grows from a childhood friends to something else but at that time, we're too afraid to tell our feelings to each other and keep it to ourselves. It was me who overcome my fear and confessed to her. I still remembered that time...both of us blushing while being cheered upon our classmates...we became lovers not long after that. That time, we are too happy to remember one important thing...that is...

...all good things must end sometime...we knew it but never had thought that day will come so early. It happened when we're on the first year of junior high school, her father is accused for espionage activity and decided to take his family run to another country by airplane. The morning I read it in the newspaper, I was so shocked by the news that I ran out to her house barefooted without thinking anything else. When I arrived all I can see is an empty house with police line all over the perimeter. It was so easy to disappear...

That time, I crumbled like a sand castle that swept away by something that resembled the ocean wave called 'sadness'. I almost cried back there but suddenly I remembered our promise. If something happened to us and we couldn't meet each other to convey it, we promised to write a letter and put it in the hole that we carved on the Cherry Blossom tree. I ran again to the park and search the hole for anything. Not long after that, I found a letter inside a plastic bag. Without any pause, I ripped the plastic, open the envelope and found a SD card inside along with a piece of paper that says "for Nei-kun".

I ran to my house, dashing trough the stairs literally leaping like a frog, and place the SD card on my laptop card reader. There is only 2 file inside it, a JPEG picture file and an AVI video file. I clicked the video file and brought it up on the media player.

The image of her shows up, It must have been recorded with her webcam as she faced me straight in the middle on the screen. I noticed a visible mark on her eyes, one that happened after you cried a lot…

"Dear Nei, at the time you read this letter I'm already at a place far away from here. You must have heard the news about my father didn't you? That is the reason he brought our family out of the country. We will go to America for a while, my father has many good friends there and he said he'll find a way to make this right again…I hope…"

"You know…I cried a lot last night…but it's alright, at least it makes me can't cry now ahaha…what am I saying…Truthfully I'm…I'm…scared…of losing you…I wanted to take you with me but if I did, it will cause many problems for you and your family and I don't want it to happen…that's why I didn't tell you about this before we left …please don't…um…hate me for this…"

"Before I left…can you grant my wish…I know it's selfish and Nei-kun is a boy after all so it might be hard for you…but…I still hoped you can grant it. …I know it is hard…but…can you wait for me? I know it's still uncertain but if I could go back…will you wait for me? Please…"

"Sorry Nei-kun, I tried my best not to cry but it's just flowing on its own…I don't want to make this seems like our last time we'll met but…I'm sorry…and…I'll change my e-mail and phone number so you'll be unable to reach me, it maybe create some problems if you get involved with my our family's problem…but I'll try to be strong there so don't worry, it will work out somehow…ah! I put the photo that we take on our first date, I hope that it will help you to remember me."

She holds the video camera to her direction and kissed it gently. It was brief but it almost felt like being kissed by her directly.

"Here is your farewell kiss, please don't do it to anybody else than me alright? It's a promise then."

She said it while trying her best to cheer me and smiled

"Sayonara, Nei-kun…I love you. I see you again someday…"

The screen reverts to the black media player background after that.

I thought it will be better if I watched it, but it's too much to bear so I cried as loud as I can, until my tears stopped flowing. But how much I tried to empty it, my tears keep flowing out…seems like I should cry my heart out. I really felt hopeless at that time.

I had hoped that she'll return to her house later if I waited long enough so I decided to visit her home every day until last year. Why did I stop? A year ago, her home and several other houses was demolished for building this high school. Honestly I'm mortified but there is nothing I can do, I'm just a powerless student. But no matter what, I refuse to give up and hoping that she will came back and resume our once severed relationship. That is the only reason I enroll here, just to cling to a glimmer of hope that someday we will met each other again. Of course, I will never tell that to anybody than her because it's embarrassing and didn't fit my character at all.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-End of Flashback*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

"Um…Minamiya-kun, Are you alright?"

Someone tugged my sleeve lightly while asking something, hmm…that woke me up from my flashback.

"Sorry Nishima-san, what is it that you wanted to ask me again?"

"I'm asking about why you didn't enroll into Sakuradayama high but if you didn't want to answer it's ok."

"Because it's far from my house and it's inconvenient to commute by public transportation."

I replied with the excuse that I've prepared long before.

"Then why did you take the entrance exam?"

Tsubomi said as she frowns.

"Because I wanted to test myself whether I'm up to par with the latest education requirements, are you dissatisfied?"

"*sigh* can't you tell?"

Tsubomi replied as she looked upon the sky and said

"Nei-kun, what is that?"

"Come on, you couldn't possibly trick me again with that trick…WHOA!"

She put her hands on my face and forced my head to turn suddenly with her excessive strength. Someone should tell her that she could injure someone with that.

All I can see is a distant fighter plane silhouette. I grab my binocular from my bag and use it to get a better view of it.

At a glance it resembles a fighter plane but it's odd because why in the world it can hover in the air? Only the harrier and the F-35 had VTOL feature, is it our country's new fighter plane? But there isn't any news about it this morning. And if I'm right, it's fully armed but for what? Don't tell me there are some insurgents going FUBAR and start a war here.

"Hey, let me see it too!"

Tsubomi snatched my binocular and take a look of it.

"A fighter plane…why did it hover on the air this low? Nei-kun did you know?"

"I don't know...huh?"

The plane suddenly turns sideways and moves forward, leaving some jet noise and several strong gust. In a matter of seconds it has disappear from my vision, leaving me curious of what is that plane and its deployment, seems like I need to search my answer in the national department of defense database. As I'm calculating some probability for hacking the DOD database, another one disturbs it. This time it's the P.A system.

"Attention for all new student in this term, please gather in the auditorium in 20 minutes from now. The school opening ceremony is scheduled to begin 40 minutes earlier than scheduled. I repeat…"

"Huh? It's this time already? Seems like we spend too much time for chatting this morning, let's hurry Minamiya-kun, Tsubomi-chan."

Rika said as she began to walk faster.

"Let's go, Nei-kun!"

Tsubomi said as she took my hand and pull it easily as she starts to run in full speed. Or in another sense, drag me easily…

"Wait Tsubomi, you're too fast!"

I barely match her running steps, if we need some analogues here let's say I'm a sport car and she's a rocket car. Sport car can go from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds while Rocket car can go from 0 to 60 in 1 second but it burns more fuel than a sport car normally would. The only thing is different that this rocket car got a thermonuclear reactor or simply said that she had a ridiculous amount of stamina. And I'm the victim of it…

"You're a man aren't you? Why couldn't you move faster? It'll be bad if we're caught late in our first day!"

"You're running faster than a human normally do! And why are you preaching me? You of all people…"

"You're just too slow! Speed it up!"

Tsubomi said as she's now fasten her pace and drags me more. I mean what's the rush? We still got 17 minutes left…Wait…maybe she's aiming for the first and the second row if the auditorium (which a senior said it's air-conditioned). Well, maybe I should aim for that one too…

"Release my hand Tsubomi, I'm going ahead."

I said with a wide smile from my newly found motivation. Now I'm motivated for something, I won't lose.

"Alright, but you do know that you can't outrun me easily!"

Tsubomi releases my hand with a grin full of confidence.

"Well it's not worth it if we didn't place something at stake, how about it?"

"Fine, I'll treat you melon soda for 3 days if I lose, Nei-kun?

"Then I'll work your homework for 3 days if you win, Tsuu-chan"

I adjust my steps to match hers who is in a breakneck pace. I can make it as my legs began to out step hers in a small margin. Well, leaving the unnecessary details, we arrived well ahead in 15 minutes before the ceremony begins and the match ended in a tie. We agreed to exchange our term so I'll work her homework and she'll buy me melon soda for 3 days.

There is times when we got along together, especially in competitions. Perhaps this is why people thought we're on very good terms. Well if it isn't because her extreme mood swings I wouldn't deny it so bad.

Students inside the auditorium are becoming restless by the minute because the principal's never ending speech that has been derailed by his own from the formal freshmen preaching to the near-fictional tale of his youth (Now He's telling the story of his duel with the Onibaku from Shonan 16 years ago, which ended my his defeat) that already exceeds the allocated time available for the new term ceremony. A male student beside me touched my shoulder to gain my attention.

"Minamiya, I'm going to make a break for it. You're in?"

Said the student with familiar face while pointing at the emergency exit on the far left corner of the auditorium, he's grinning wide every time he took a glance of that door.

His name is Kazuki Takemura, a well-known gun enthusiast from the same junior high as us. He is unique in a sense because he seems like an ordinary guy, usually gun lovers has the tendency to either behaving erratic, rough, or extreme but he has neither of them – one of the traits he's popular of is when he's seriously agitated he'll show a intimidating aura to his opponent that usually leads to his/her demise. Fortunately he seldom shows it. He's secretly loved pranks and usually pulled me to tag along as his accomplices. Surprisingly, he is very intelligent although he always try to hide it because he stated that it's not his style to be a four-eyed prankster. Overall, he is a fine and jovial pal for me.

"Better don't, Kazuki. They had a CCTV installed there. It'll become a trouble when some teacher finds out."

I pointed the black sphere-like object on the ceiling near the emergency exit.

"Phew, you saved me again now. Damn~…I can't stand it anymore especially the part that he said he once stop a bullet fired from an M16 with his bare hands. Anymore of that and I'll vomit here…"

He said while pointing his middle finger against the principal, who now tell us the story about him fishing a coelacanth in Amazon River. He is right, I'm also at my patience limit here. Well, we do know his bad habit of telling such exaggerated and long story from his brother Ryuichi Kazuki but we've never thought it will be this bad. Thankfully, we had a countermeasure against this unfavorable situation.

"Kazuki, I think we should end this with plan F."

"You finally made your move…let's do it."

"Did you bring the airsoft gun?"

"I did, I also made some modification to the chamber and electric motor. I'm also added some aid in target acquisition. What about your part?"

"All set, let's discuss the procedures."

As we discussed about the plan to end the principal's ramblings, someone seems determined to butt in as always…

"Stop thinking about dangerous pranks like that!"

A yell from a seat beside us nearly got us startled. Strangely enough, although it made the others startled the principal is unaffected and continue to tell his made-up stories.

"WHOA"

I and Kazuki said in unison as we turn our head about 90 degrees left and finds Tsubomi again with dissatisfaction written around her face. I forgot that she and Rika-san are also sitting in the same row as us.

"Kanagawa, don't yell that loud! We're in the auditorium for the heaven's sake!"

"I wouldn't need to yell if you both didn't plan some dangerous pranks like that! You must be planning to kill the principal didn't you?"

"Of course not!...wait, now that you think about it that doesn't sounds so bad, if I gun him down we didn't have to listen to his ramblings forever!"

"That's great Tsubomi…you have inspired a future assassin to begin his career at such early age."

I pointed Tsubomi to the man beside me who had a certain facial expression similar to a seasoned assassin. Maybe some insurgent will recruit her as the campaign girl to rally more people to become a murderer like them. Maybe…I really need to watch my steps with her…

"Wha? Wait, Kazuki! Don't think anything strange and return to the righteous path!"

Tsubomi persuades Kazuki like a catholic priestess already. Somehow I can see some faint radiance emanating from her, is that just my imagination?

Kazuki chuckled a bit.

"Eh…?"

"Don't worry Kanagawa, I didn't plan to start my career now. It's just a mental prank!"

Kazuki said why grinning to me.

"Nei-kun! So you knew he wasn't serious!"

Tsubomi quickly turn her glance towards me with the fierce look like a tiger agitated.

"No comment."

I definitely grinning when I reply Tsubomi now, she's unflinching in a physical one but weak to mental pranks. That's might be considered as cute for some people. Me? I'll reserve my comment for later thank you.

"Well, I'm we're half-serious to that idea but we will use a non-life threatening method instead."

"Non-life threatening method?"

"Yes, from what my brother tells me he is allergic to pollen and is very sensitive against it. We plan to use it into our advantage to stop this ridiculous speech right now."

"How?"

"Minamiya, please explain the details to her."

"From the Intel we have gathered, we know that the principal is very sensitive to white birch and cedar tree pollen. We will fire some BB pellets at him that are laced with the pollen he is sensitive about to induce his allergic reaction. We hope that it will lead to the end of his speech and concludes the ceremony immediately."

"I can't wait to see his reaction. Minamiya did you bring the ammunition?"

"Here, handle it with care."

I handed a box of airsoft ammunition that I modified last night. The ammo was unique in a sense because it uses a soft rubber as its material so it reduces the damage potential and its surface contains some pollen that I gathered yesterday.

"Perfectly crafted as always Minamiya!"

Kazuki loaded the ammunition into his handgun airsoft cartridge. Why he will use a handgun? Because if you bring a rifle one and point it to the principal while you're still seated, it'll be the same as waving a giant flag that says "I'm here and I'm going to kill you" to the enemy on a reconnaissance mission. It's bound to blow the element of surprise and only creates problems later. So the airsoft handgun is the reasonable one, it's a Mark 23 Mod.0 replica but equipped with a genuine EOTech target sighting device to increase the accuracy rating (I don't know where in the world he acquire that).

"It's nothing, today is free if you can bring him down less than 5 minutes."

"Hey! Don't do that, it's a violation of the school rule!"

Tsubomi raised her voice again, trying to block Kazuki's line of sight with her hands.

"Then you'll be fine if we listen to this old man rambling until midnight? Remember the fact that he already exceeded his time by 2 hours and I didn't have the same amount of patience as you."

Kazuki smiled sarcastically, for me this is a warning sign. Tsubomi you better give in and stay back as no one can stop him now. I already saw a dark aura emanating from his shoulder.

"Uh….you does have a point…"

Tsubomi pull her hands hesitantly while glancing to me, asking if I could stop him. Hi gust smiled and shakes my head in refusal. No one could get his hands off the gun once he wields it, and even if I can I wouldn't because I can't bear to hear the Principal's seemingly never-ending story.

"Minamiya, here…:

Kazuki handed me an identical airsoft gun.

"I see…in case of you didn't hit huh…interesting."

I took it without hesitation, the moment I hold it adrenaline enters my bloodstream. I felt that this is just a little deviation from my monotone days but still…It's exciting.

"Do try not to miss, Kazuki."

I grinned while taking my position.

"Then lunch on me if I missed. The same term applied with you."

"Deal."

We pointed our guns at the same time. I had him on my sight. The red dot is right on his head. The trigger is already halfway. This is exciting…

With a moderate electric noise, we both fired at the same time. Our target isn't his face nor his body parts but the space beside him. If we hit him, we will become aware about this and it may bring us problems later and our intention was to spread the pollen, not to injure him. Just in case we also fired the second, third, fourth, and fifth round straight to increase the success rate of our plan.

Our plan ended with a success as the principal was taken care of just 2 minutes after we fired the BB pellets. He received several rashes on his skin that caused moderate irritation upon him and forced him to end his speech immediately. Normally, we will have several other events like the school orientation and some free time but because the principal's 3 hour speech, it was pushed back for tomorrow. We split up and go home immediately after we were dismissed.

After I set my foot on my room, the fatigue that I accumulated hits me like a pile of bricks dropped from the second floor so I choose to land my back on the bed earlier than usual. Not long after that, the fatigue managed to put me to sleep immediately.

Before my consciousness fades away I recall the events that had happened today. It was a slight deviation over the monotone days thanks to Tsubomi and the principal's speech but it was fun indeed. . I wonder if tomorrow will deviate as well. I hope it will. But honestly, I'm a bit disappointed about something. What is it? Well I had hoped that maybe I can meet her today…I wonder if this isn't the time for our reunion…no use thinking over it, I still had 3 years left. Perhaps she'll transfer on the second term of school or maybe the third term so I can't lose hope on her. God, I pray that you'll let us meet in the near future.

Chapter 2: break the day

Today is the second day of student orientation program. For the first 3 hours of familiarizing with your new classmates and staff teacher's greetings I felt like I'm doing a generic chore on a generic RPG game and truthfully…it was better than listening to the principal's speech. Speaking about how we forcefully put an end to his ramblings is enough to brighten my day as the feeling of accomplishment still linger in my mind. The schedule dictates that every day on the orientation program begin with the principal's speech but since he's physically unable to be present because his allergy (Which we maintained by sending an unnamed get-well card that has also been laced with the cedar tree pollen).

Some might disagree with my action which I agree has harmed an elderly person which we should respect but for the good of the many, one should be sacrificed. Nothing more nothing less.

The bell has signed the end of our meet and greet with the teachers who will be our educator for the next 12 months, and the beginning of our break period. That means the time to devour my lunch to replenish my lost energy and also the time to have our group lunch together with Tsubomi, Kazuki and Rika. Currently Tsubomi and Rika is away to buy some drinks for the group while Kazuki is also away getting his bento (home-made lunchbox) from his older sister on the second floor. So that leaves me in charge of setting up our table so I move away the chairs, join the desks, rearrange the seats, and put up my bento on the table.

"Yo Minamiya!"

Kazuki have returned with two packs of bento on his arms. This means that his sister is on a diet week…well good for you Kazuki.

"You know you're in charge of setting up the desk for our lunch today Kazuki."

"Sorry, I forgot it was my turn today."

He replied casually.

"Then I'll expect you to share half of your bento with the group as your punishment."

"Gah! I never heard of it! When did you guys decide it!"

"Yesterday, didn't you were listening to Tsubomi when I forgot to set up the table? I got my lunch reduced by half because of that."

"Uh…I do remember eating something good that wasn't in my bento…"

"Then you acknowledge it, so give me one of your bento…no….give me your sister's bento."

"Why the heck I lost a full one bento? And w-w-why my sister's bento?"

"Because you had 2 of them and I knew it was packed with more desserts than yours and I forgot to put in my dessert today."

"As always…you seem to use everything to your benefit…you're kind of scary right now, Minamiya."

"It is normal for people to utilize everything that benefits them, it's like the theory of…"

"Difficult talk on lunch time is prohibited! Didn't I tell you yesterday?"

Tsubomi returned with a plastic bag full of soft drinks along with Rika.

"Oh, Kanagawa! Where have you been?"

"I was buying drinks for us together with Rika-chan."

"Here Kazuki-kun, your orange juice."

"Thank you Nishima-san, I was thirsty after all that flight of stairs"

"You're welcome. Umm…Takemura-kun…Can I sit beside you?"

Rika asked Kazuki sheepishly, I wonder why?

"Sure, why not?"

"Here, your melon soda. Now then, I'm going to the faculty office first you guys should eat without me."

Tsubomi handed two bottles of Melon soda to me as part of our deal yesterday. If you wonder why did she ask me to work on her homework when she's such a good student? It's because she spent her afternoon to accompany her father's campaign for the mayor election for this period. Seems like it's hectic over there and she seems didn't wanted to be asked about it so I refrain from digging more information out from her. It's a mutual benefit relationship as far as I concerned.

"Huh? What's happened Kanagawa?"

"Well…there are some talks about a former diet debater from America paying a visit to our school for the student exchange program and I'm elected as the chief of the welcoming committee…"

"Kanagawa Tsubomi from class 2-1, Kanagawa Tsubomi from class 2-1, your presence is required at the faculty office on the first floor I repeat…"

"Ah! It's about to begin see you guys later!"

Tsubomi picked up her bag and began to run to the direction of the stairs. Knowing her, I bet she can reach the office under 5 minutes. Well, seems like I'll have more desserts today.

"She left…"

"As energetic as usual, Kanagawa…isn't a girl supposed to be more uhh tame?"

"Well, it's Tsubomi-chan after all. By the way, Minamiya-kun did you have a spare moment later?"

"What's the matter Rika-san?"

"It's about Tsubomi-chan…never mind…seems like I'm just worried too much."

What I wanted to know what you're trying to tell me. The way you changed your mind is just stirring my curiosity…Perhaps I should ask Tsubomi when she's alone.

"By the way Minamiya, why did you have 2 melon soda? Did you really like it that much?"

"Now that you've said it why did you like melon soda so much, Minamiya-kun? I never saw you drinking anything but the melon soda all the time."

"I drink it because I liked the taste. That is all."

"Hmm~ I didn't think so~"

Rika said playfully while looking at me like a collector appraising a new ancient relic.

"Are you sure you just like it without any particular reason? Remember that you even go to the nearest convenience store just to buy it when the cafeteria ran out of it~ it's just not normal~"

"Now that you think about it…I do remember someone who liked melon soda as…AHA!"

Chapter 3: Mecha is the way

"Bravo 6, please begin the launch check sequence."

"Roger that, FCS, MRCF, FFDS, FRD, MLP, RTP, BST, WPS, AMBACS, IFF, NST, RDM, DAP, ARMS, all green with RDY code on each subroutines"

"Weapons check completed, all munitions is active and no defect to the thermal shielding component."

"Reactor output is normal, thermal cooling system is operating at peak performance level."

"System check finished, takeoff is possible."

"Bravo 6, you have control."

"This is Victor 6, I have control. Master switch is set on war condition."

"Confirmed, good luck Bravo 6."

"Thank you control tower, we'll need it."

The radio is always filled with chatter like this tonight. Accompanied the loud noise of the soaring fighter plane and the blast of afterburner. It just happens in a blink of an eye, so fast even I felt lost in the change. The only thing I know was, I'm taking part of this situation.

"Victor 1, standby for takeoff. Please initiate lunch check sequence."


End file.
